Long lost Slip the Slug

Slip the slug has been very quiet lately. There have been no signs of his slippery trails across the lounge floor. In fact, I had almost forgotten about Slip, until I accidently stumbled upon him
and his family, sleeping peacefully in our garden compost bin.

‘Oh there you are Slip,’ I said smiling down at the cosy family all cwtched up together’.
‘I wondered what had happened to you.’

Slip looked up at me sleepily. ‘Go back to sleep,’ I said and placed the lip on top of them so
not to let the sun dry them out.

My kind and unassuming husband thought I had gone mad when I told him that nothing was to be added to compost bin 3, until
Slip and his family had had a good night’s sleep and moved on.

‘They are a protected species in our garden,’ I told him and smiled
when he agreed with me. ‘And they have the enormous task of eating and decomposing vegetation, therefore conserving the ecology!’ I thought it best not to mention that slugs have green blood, but it was on the tip of my tongue!

I remember once, some time ago, a little boy coming to visit us and was fascinated by the trail that Slip or one of his family had left in the garden. Just as he was about
to rub it away with a stick, I told him one of the reason for the slimy trail. It helps prevent the slug from slipping, I told him, when they go down steep slopes. I also told him that slugs have 27,000 teeth, more than a shark! He was well impressed.

By explaining to children at an early age, the reasons why they should or shouldn’t do things, is much better in my opinion for the protection of animals and
the environment. You see, Slip has the potential to live up to six years! And if you’re wondering, how a slug can get into your home when it seems almost impossible, it’s because it can stretch out to 20 times its normal length and squeeze through
the smallest of cracks.....!